Cured
by Your-Guilty-Pleasure
Summary: "You can't force it on us! It's CHOICE!" John spat at the uniformed man in front of him. "Oh no, hot off the presses, new law says we can force the radicals to take The Cure." The man had a victorious gleam in his eye. John never really knew the feeling of fear until he heard those words.
1. Oh Yes We Can

**So I don't know exactly where the idea for this story came to me from, but once it hit I really couldn't let it go. Writing this evoked a lot of feelings, so I hope you all enjoy it.**

* * *

John couldn't quite recall what was happening. He remembered his fight with Bobby. He remembered a blast. Everything else was foggy.

He attempted to stand when he heard voices approaching. He didn't know who they were, but chances are he needed to be ready to fight. Willing his legs to not wobble beneath him, he gave his best effort at standing.

The landscape and scene swam in front of his eyes, a sickening chemical smell assaulted his nose making a wave a nausea threaten his footing. His head pounded with disapproval at everything going on.

"Identify yourself!" A loud voice boomed from his right.

He flinched at the noise, covering his ear and turning to the source.

A stout army uniform was about five feet to his right, the origins of the demanding voice he assumed.

Several other men in the same uniform appeared around him.

"I said identify yourself!" He ordered again.

"I don't owe you anything!" John responded as his vision began to clear.

There were several audible clicks, like the cocking of a gun.

"It's a radical. One of Magneto's." The original man growled out an order to seize him.

John snapped his igniter, thankful it was still working, and hurled a quick fire ball at them. The ones charging towards him jumped to dodge it, while someone tackled him from behind.

John struggled against the man, but his head throbbed and his muscles protested against him. Soon enough two more men had joined the struggle. At one point, they ripped his igniter from his arm and replaced it with a silver cuff.

Anger surged through John in fierce waves.

"Get off of me! I swear I will make you live to regret this moment!" He was rolled over onto his back, just enough opportunity to kick one of the men in the stomach.

The man stumbled back, but John couldn't even enjoy this small victory because in an instant the other cuff was snapped onto his opposite wrist.

Several paces away there still a smoldering flame. He could feel it. It spoke to his soul, begging him to steal it's ember and fight. He twisted his wrists, calling it to him. He saw the light glow brighter from the rubble, he was going to scorch them to ash. Hope blossomed inside his mind.

A sudden blow to his abdomen made him loss his hold, the breath knocked from his lungs. His grip on the flame faltered.

One of the men had kicked him and was now having a good laugh at him. But he wouldn't show them his pain. They were pathetic, below him. He would never let them believe they had hurt him.

With ease they hauled him to his feet and pushed him forward. But he refused to walk. Instead he kept his focus on the sole ember left.

"Move!" One barked at him.

His fingers twisted in the air, trying to pry the ember from it's hiding place. His feet stayed planted. He wasn't going to go without a fight.

Seeing the defiance in his face, the commanding officer order each of his men to grab him by the arms and legs and haul him.

"We'll _handle_ you, the same way we handled all your other little radical buddies." The stout man was in John's face now, looking down the brim of his nose at John.

"You won't be _**handling**_ me." John made an aggressive move towards the man and was jerked back by his shoulders.

"You won't be so tough when you don't have any kind of freak powers." His words spun around in John's throbbing mind for a moment, then disbelief filled his face.

"You can't do to me!" John spat.

"By law we can, fresh off the printed press, 'any mutant found to be a radical or a danger to others may be given The Cure forcefully. For the protection of all'." The man had a grin that John wanted to knock of his face.

Adrenaline pumped through his veins in rampant floods. He was going to kill them or die trying. He would never let them do that to him. He would never be one of them.

"Get him men!"

"NO!" John struggled against the men.

He managed to headbutt one of them in the nose and elbow another in the chin.

"Listen to me you little runt," The stout man who John could now read his name patch, Dodger, grabbed the front of John's jacket and pulled him level with him, "You're beginning to be more struggle than you're worth. I'm sick of your kind and all the never-ending issues you seem to bring _us._ " Homosapiens. That's what us meant to him. Mutants weren't included his in 'worthy to live' ideals.

"I'll never let you take my power." John was not going to back down, he forced any fear that was infecting his mind away.

The man chuckled, "then it'll be that much better for me when I do."

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

 _ **"Let me GO!"**_ John growled as he was carried into the building like a sacrificial pig tied to a post. There was a man holding each one of his extremities as they hauled him in.

He knew where he was. It had been one of the many places on Magneto's hit list. It was a Cure Clinic. Panic waved through him.

 **"I will kill you!** " He declared.

He continued to spit out insults and threats as the carried him through the lobby, down the hall, and until the found a room to trap him in.

A female's voice entered in the mix, she instructed the men to put him in restraints. And so the men proceeded to strip him of his jacket and apply the gray restraints that stemmed from each corner of the bed.

He managed to get one more swing in, his knuckles meeting the nose of one of the men. The man returned the favor to John's jaw.

The colors and lights of the room swirled for a moment. The familiar throb that had previously been in head came rushing back with vengeance. By the time he was able to see straight again he was fully restrained. They even had a strap going across his forehead.

"You have no idea who you are dealing with! Let me go or I promise you I will kill everything single one of you!" He jerked at the restraints, causing the bed to whine with his motions.

"Don't you have a sedative we can give him? He is the wildest one yet!" Another of the military men yelled.

"No, none on hand." The doctor's voice had the smallest hint of fear in it.

"Just get the injection!" Dodger ordered.

" _ **NO!**_ " John roared, trying to pry himself free once more.

"STOP!" He yelled, obviously fighting his restraints. "I WILL END YOU!"

He cursed and threatened them as if his very life depended on it. He didn't seem to take a breath as he fought.

The doctor was suddenly back in the room. He saw her dark hair flurry about in movements as she prepped the needle, "I got it!"

"LET ME GO! STOP! DON'T DO THIS!" Dread was infecting his mind. There was no flame to call, no fire in this disgustingly clean facility.

What was he expecting? Magneto and the Brotherhood to come busting in and save him? He didn't even know if Magneto was alive! He didn't know what the turn out was after the explosion.

There was some kind of commotion at the entrance of the his room. Probably another person coming to force this fate on him.

"Let me go! Don't do this! You have no idea what you are doing!" John yelled, his words cracking as his fear was gripping his entire being. "Please!"

They weren't even acknowledging him. It was as if his voice had been stripped away with his rights.

"Please, don't do this to me!" He tugged against the restraints again.

"Let him GO!" A familiar voice rang out in the room.

His eyes shifted and found Rogue standing in the doorway of the room. Of course she would be in a place like this. But why was she defending him? Why was she pleading his case? She looked completely horrified at what she was seeing.

Her attempts at help didn't soothe the embarrassment he now felt on top of his fear. Here he was completely strapped to a bed, completely helpless. He was weak.

"Get her! She is probably another one!" The Dodger ordered, two of the men abandoned his bedside and descended up on her.

They grabbed her by her arms, forcing her into a back corner. How lucky those men were that she was wearing long sleeves, John thought bitterly.

John's attention returned to the doctor as he watched in horror as the she prepped her needle.

"No!" John snarled through clenched teeth.

His fingers desperately clenched the sheet of his examination table.

"Leave him alone! You can't force it on us!" Rogue pleaded from her corner.

"Get her out of here!" The Dodger snapped.

And just like that, she was being carried off, kicking and pleading with them not to do this. She spat out some babble about choice and rights. But this was just as Magneto had told him, this was going to be forced on us, all of us, sooner or later.

The doctor came and positioned the needle at the bend of his elbow.

It was going to happen. They were going to strip him of his mutation. Strip him of everything he is. They were taking away the best part of him. The thing that made him great. _A god among insects._

John's muscles tensed as the needle broke his skin, he spat every curse word and threat his fearful mind could conjure up. He chanted 'stop' as the she began to push the plunger in.

"Get it out!" He tried to maneuver his arm to free it from the needle to no avail. "Don't do it! _**NO**_!"

Something inside him broke when the last of the injection entered his veins. It was gone. He'd been given The Cure. There was nothing superior about him now. He was human. He was everything he hated, everything he had fought against.

There was nothing left. What was the point of his existence without his mutation?

"I'll kill you! I will kill every single one of you with my bare hands!" He seethed, making sure to make eye contact with every person who had done this to him. They would pay.

"How soon will it take effect? He is more powerful than the other ones." John could hear Dodger's words as his mind began to swirl.

"It's hard to tell. It may take more than one round to completely block the gene." The doctor explained as she pushed her glasses up on her nose.

It felt like lightening bolts were searing their way through his veins. They assaulted every muscle fiber and filled every joint space. The jolts tore through his being. He bit down hard to not let so much as a moan slip out. Their voices soon became slurs and he couldn't quite detect their words anymore. He was losing grip.

Fear and electricity consumed him. If he passed out, it was over. The Cure would claim him and his mutation.

His eyes snapped open, but everything in the room looked like a giant mosaic painting. Everything muddled together into one huge colorful blob that had sparks of electricity flashing through.

Every cell in his body was supercharged with electric pulses and his only feeling was white hot pain. Death would be welcomed compared this. Why would any mutant do this to themselves? Why would they suffer this badly to lose their greatness?

Blackness was swallowing him. He tried to form words, but it was like his mind and mouth wouldn't work. Like his body had been hijacked.

"He's fighting it." The doctor observed, hurriedly writing down notes as she watched sweat pour from John's face, fascinated every time his body would jerk in efforts to fight what was going on inside.

"It's no use." Dodger commented, his face expressionless.

"He'll have to be kept in the ward longer than the others."

"We'll keep a guard posted at all times. Especially since his little friend blew her cover. Don't wont a coupe to form."

The doctor looked away from John and towards the intimidating military man next to her, "With what? The whole reason there are in there is because they are weak and powerless. Most barely wake-up for the first couple of days after the injection. Where do you think they could get the energy to form a coupe?"

"Always better to be safe, doctor." Dodger's eyes slid to John's still in place restraints before he turned to exit the room.

* * *

 ** _Let me know your thoughts! More to come!_**

 ** _RAWR_**


	2. To Watch It Happen

_**Rouge's side.**_

* * *

" **Let me GO!** " Rogue heard his voice before she ever saw him, it broke the deafening quietness that had been filling the air.

She had just been escorted back to the room where she was to be given her Cure. She was scared to tell the truth. She wanted a normal life, but was she really meant for one? She hadn't even brought herself to put on the examination that had been laid out for of running away and changing her mind were flooding into her brain just before the disruption. From the sounds of it, they were just outside the lobby door.

Every muscle tightened in her body. It was just instinct for her to look for the source of the voice. Her palms became sweaty in their gloves and her fingers were knotting themselves around each other. She slid off the the examination table and towards the hall to look down it into the lobby.

He sounded angry. No anger didn't cover what he was. He was livid. She had heard him in many a bad mood before, but nothing like that.

" **I** _ **will**_ **kill you!"** His voice was outside the door of the lobby now and it had everyone's attention.

Not even a second later, the pearly white doors of the lobby must have burst open with a flurry of violent movements. Several of the mutants who were in the lobby gasped at the sudden commotion.

Rogue witnessed several military dressed men marching in. Two were guiding, while there were at least 5 behind them carrying in a bucking hostage.

It had been months since she had had seen him, but she would know him anywhere. It was John. Two of the men had his legs, two others had his arms, where he was handcuffed at the wrist, carrying him through the lobby and towards the hallway door. He was kicking wildly against his captors, barking harsh words at them and demanding to be released.

She hid herself behind the door of her room, as they carried him by. He was far too preoccupied with trying to break free than to notice her.

She witnessed as they carried him by that he was covered in soot and he smelled like smoke. Not his usual natural smoke smell that she had been guilty of sniffing a few too many times before. But instead this was a chemical smoke smell that burned her nose and brought water to her eyes. Aside from that, he had a large bruise rising up on his forehead.

"What is this?!" A female doctor came rushing from the nurses station across the hall, towards the men.

"One of the radicals. Found him near the battle site. He started trying to hurl fireballs at us." Rogue overheard on of the men explain. "He seems a little disoriented, something to due with that huge knot of his head I assume."

Rogue could no longer see what was happening, but she heard every bit of it. They had stowed John in the room next to hers.

He was still cursing wildly, and from the sounds, still fighting them.

"Put him in the restraints! Complete 4 point!" The doctor ordered.

This made Rogue look over to her own examination table and sure enough, stashed under the bed-railing were restraints. How many had been brought here like John, against their will?

"You have no idea who you are dealing with! Let me go or I promise you I will kill every single one of you!"

Several grunts followed his threat along with the whine of the metal of the bed. There was two distinctive cracking sounds, like that of bone.

"Don't you have a sedative we can give him? He is the wildest one yet!" Another of the military men yelled.

Yet? They had done this to others? Just how many others of her kind had been tormented like this?

"No." The doctor's voice had the smallest hint of fear in it.

"Just get the injection!" The man ordered.

" _ **NO!**_ " John roared.

Rogue's mind raced. That was John in there. Another mutant. Once upon a time, a friend. She wanted to help him, but her feet were frozen in fear. She was one person and she had no chance against them. They had taken John for heaven's sake! What chance did she stand against them?!

"STOP!" He yelled, obviously fighting his restraints. "I WILL END YOU!"

He cursed and threatened them as if his very life depended on it. He didn't seem to take a breath as he fought.

The soft rushed patter of the doctor's flats hurried back up the hall and passed Rogue's door, "I got it!"

"LET ME GO! STOP! DON'T DO THIS!" The anger in his tone was turning to desperation.

Suddenly she was moving. She had to try, she had to at least try and stop this from happening.

Several of the men looked alarmed at her when she burst into the room, but all she could see was John.

His ankles were strapped to the end corners of the bed by the same gray bands that she had seen in her arm room. Not much farther up the bed she witnessed his wrists restrained in the same manor. His jacket had been torn away and discarded in the corner, leaving his arm exposed from his t-shirt sleeve. There was an additional band across his forehead. That's when she saw his expression, one she had never seen him wear before. Not when they trained, not when the mansion was attacked.

He was terrified.

"Let me go! Don't do this! You have no idea what you are doing!" He the desperation in his voice becoming more apparent. "Please!"

He broke. He knew there was no way out it. John would never beg, she could never recall him saying 'please' for any reason.

Sweat shone on his forehead, running down the sides of his face.

"Please, don't do this to me!" He tugged against the restraints ago.

"Let him GO!" Rogue could hardly recognize her own voice when it ripped out from her.

"Get her! She is probably another one!" The largest of the men order and two of them descended up on her.

She didn't even register they had grabbed both of her arms until the hoisted her into a corner of the room, farthest away from John.

Both she and John watched in horror as the doctor prepped her needle.

"No!" John snarled through clenched teeth.

His fingers desperately clenched the sheet of his examination table.

"Leave him alone! You can't force it on us!" Rogue attempted to free her arms.

"Get her out of here!" The largest man, obviously the one in charge, snapped.

And just like that, she was being carried off, if only she hadn't worn a jacket. If only she had one little bit of skin showing this wouldn't have been an issue. She could have easily used her mutation for a good cause this time.

She looked back over her shoulder just as the doctor was positioning the needle at the bend of John's elbow. His muscles were taunt under his skin and he still fought.

She was disposited back into her room and she heard him argue still. She heard every curse word he knew and different threats thrown at everyone in the room. The men who had escorted her was stationed at the doorway of her room.

In attempts to block out the cries she covered her ears, but it didn't help. She heard him yelling 'no' repeatedly. She heard his roar of 'get that thing out of me!' 'Stop!' 'Don't do it!'

Then nothing. Gingerly she lowered her hands.

"I'll kill you! I will kill every single one of you with my bare hands!" He seethed.

"Keep him in his restraints until we can get some sort of sedative here for him. I don't want any chances with him." The leader's voice rang clear. "And someone get in there and take care of the little wench that was trying to get to him."

Realization dawned on her, she was next. Ready or not, wanting it or not...her choice was made.

* * *

 ** _Thanks for reading! Share your thoughts!_**

 ** _RAWR_**


	3. Give Em The Ole Switcheroo

The elite level of control and organization in this facility was beyond anything Rogue could have fathomed. Of course the fact that most of it's patients are beyond doped out of their minds might make it easier to run a place as such.

Every patient was dressed alike, in yellow cotton pajama pants, gray T-shirt, and flat gray shoes.

There were several classes to attend each day, teaching you how to rejoin society as a _normal_ human. Each person had to attended at least 3 classes a day. Should someone not, they dragged you away to an area Rogue herself hadn't experienced yet. At the same time everyday they would line everyone up and have them take the same blue and green capsule, which usually left everyone in their dazed state. Every other day they would come take a blood sample from each person.

Every one dressed like her usually spent the day shuffling around the open floor of the facility. There was a room with a television, a reading room, the group activity/class rooms. There was also an area in the middle of the open floor that was a large glass box, which had lawn chairs and some flowers scattered about it, sunshine spilling down into it. At the top of the box was pattern of lasers that were constantly flexing, discouraging any attempt someone might make to escape.

The outside area was where Rogue spent most of her time. The sunshine felt amazing and it helped take away the chill of being locked away. At several different points in the day, another patient would wander outside to blankly stare up at the sky before shuffling back inside.

If she had been counting right, it had been six days since they had arrived here. Six days since she had really seen John, but she knew he was here due to the constant exchange on military men through the facility. That and on some nights, she heard his voice ring through the halls as argued when someone was trying to give him medication.

But today that changed. While she was basking in the sun, the door leading outside swung open. She jumped when she saw the man dressed in military garb at first, memories of her last close encounter with them springing to the front of her mind. But he did not move towards her, instead he stopped about 5 paces in and turned to face the open court.

Then someone wearing the patient uniform was shoved out into the court, if she hadn't known his face, she wouldn't have recognized him. He looked pale and sickly, so different from the fighting bull he had been not even a week ago. There were dark circles under his eyes and the knot that was on his forehead was a colorful array of yellow, green and black. Around his ankles were some kind of shackle. His eyes squinted as the adjusted to the burst of natural light.

Another solider followed in and took the same position as the first. The hairs on Rogue's exposed arms stood up.

"John?" When he didn't look up at her, she moved closer to him, "John!"

Still no reaction, he wouldn't even look at her. He kept his eyes fixed on a far corner of the court.

She needed him to say something spiteful to her, make a sarcastic comment, just do anything to prove to her that John was still in there. Because all she could see was a vacant stare.

Without a second thought she wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered the one thing she thought would provoke a reaction.

But he remained still, his breathing pattern didn't even change.

There was a throat clearing sound from behind John where the soldiers were. But she didn't care. She hugged John closer, the bittersweet sensation of her naked arms wrapping around his exposed neck. There was no fire zinging through her, no warmth. It was really happening, they had been cured.

 _"Pyro_." She had whispered in his ear as she hugged him. She said it so softly, like saying it was as natural as breathing. Like she was trying to awake him from a dream.

This wasn't a dream though and he wasn't _Pyro_ anymore. That had been stolen from him. He had been sitting in a room for six days, forced to watch one brainwashing video after another. At night they strapped him to the bed and forced medication into his body, after they took their daily blood sample. At any given time an interrogation would begin about other mutant 'radicals'.

The doctor claimed they were trying to help him. Saying the medicine would make it easier. But it didn't. It just caused him inhumane amounts of pain and kept him feeling hallow.

When Marie wrapped her arms around his neck and held onto him, he waited for her power to kick in, but it didn't. Instead, she held him in a tight embrace, as if she let him go, he might disappear.

Of course she would be waiting for him like a spider when they finally removed him from his room. How she kept appearing at his worst moments he would never know.

When he never returned the embrace, she pulled away and examined him. Her fingertips gently pushed his unkept hair away from the knot on his forehead, then moved on to examine the bruise on his jaw. She sucked in a quick breath when she found the injection sites on his arms and bruises on his wrist.

"What have they done to you?" She sounded like she wanted to cry. She was always the more emotional type. John couldn't even bring himself to care what they were doing to his body after the cure. Unless it involved that horrid medication, he did feel the need to fight that.

He made a scoffing noise at her question, what hadn't they done to him?

She then grabbed his still tender jaw, an action that did earn a wince from him, and forced him to look down at her.

She was searching for something in his face.

"Better convince your boyfriend that behaving is in his best interest." One of the soldiers spoke-up.

So this wasn't him getting to come out of the room for good measure, this was yet another controlling attempt.

John expected her to draw back and tell them how wrong they were, but to his surprise she didn't. Her eyes stayed fixed on his, her fingers firm on his chin.

"Times up." One of the soldiers moved forward, John saw out of the corner of his eye.

"No!" She protested, finally releasing his jaw.

She looked sternly at the men, as if she had some kind authority over them.

"You don't make the rules." The soldier gripped her arm and pulled her from John.

She was pulled so roughly that she stumbled and almost tripped on a chair.

"We're already prisoners here, why are you locking him away?!" Marie argued.

"If he would comply, we wouldn't have too." By comply they meant stop spitting the pills they shoved into his mouth back at them, possibly. Or for him to tell them if there were any other _radicals_ out there.

"Let him be around other people and he might!" She continued to argue as if she had a chance of winning, squaring up with the soldier that had forced her away from John.

"What makes you think that?" John listened to the argument continue as the second soldier pulled him away.

Her mouth bobbed open and closed, looking for words to validate her point.

The soldier she was arguing with scoffed a laugh at her, to which John heard her suck in a deep breath.

"Better luck next time, Little Girl." The soldier gripped John's other arm, then commented to the other.

"He isn't the one you want!" Her voice burst out before she could really process what she was saying. She just wanted to save John from the torture he was going through.

It worked. They stopped dragging John away and looked at her questioningly.

"And let me guess, you are?" One laughed at her.

She set her shoulders and held her head high, "He was a warrior in the field. I, on the other hand, have been inside Magneto's head. I've seen everything he has and know all that is in store."

She wasn't being completely honest, but she did carry some of Magneto's memories and traits with her. There had been several nights when she woke-up screaming because she was enduring the concentration camp he hand been at in his youth. And if she concentrated enough, she could move metal objects.

The soldiers exchanged looks, as if doubting her story for a moment.

"Waste your time on him all you want, but he knows nothing." John had turned and was looking at her now. The look on his face said he couldn't believe what was coming out of her mouth. She couldn't either though. "With my mutation, not only could a take other mutants powers by touching them, I could see into their minds."

Slowly they each released John's arms and came to either side of her.

"You'd better be telling the truth girly, or this will not end will for you or your boyfriend." The taller of the two men spoke jerked her into motion.

John watched in confusion as the marched past him with Marie in tow, no doubt taking her back to what had been his room. What he couldn't understand is why she did what she did. They were nothing to each other.

She pulled her bluff off she well that he almost believed her. Did she really know anything? Would she spill all the Brotherhood secrets to them when they started torturing her?

One thing rang through his mind the most, he was now in debt to the one former mutant he detested the most.


	4. Strike One

"Talk." Rogue was roughly shoved into a painfully plain room, the only objects being a pallet on the floor with a flat pillow. There was no windows in the room, just four tight boxed walls.

She almost lost her footing when they shoved her in the room, but did manage to regain it before a full stumble. This had been her room for the past week. She was only allowed out for bathroom purposes, even then she had an escort.

"Well?" the bigger soldier pressed her for some form of communication.

She hadn't even given any real news since the day they swapped her for John. She gave falsified information, or the location of old abandoned camps she knew they would find nothing of use at. They were obviously fed up with her bad information, at least she assumed due to the their brute behavior.

Finally she locked onto a solid thought, "You **homosapiens** and your prehistoric un-evolved levels of thought." She spat out a laugh.

She stood up straight and looked at the demanding soldier. His nostrils flared with rage and he looked like he wanted to strike her.

"Well if we're so un-evolved, how about sharing some knowledge with us?"

She scoffed at him, "Did you think I would just hand over information to you? Did you think I would betray my people so easily?"

"They aren't your people anymore. You are no longer one of them."

The corner of her mouth turned up into a smile. What a horrible attempt to get her to sell out.

"Princess, if you were just blowing hot air to save your little boyfriend, you will not like how this ends-" The second soldier spoke up.

"The fact you find him so important just shows how misinformed you really are. " She cut him off mid sentence.

They exchanged a concerned look for a half a second that she was lucky enough to notice. And for once, she was glad she had been inside Magneto's head and could use his personality.

"We are like the **_hydra_**. You cut off one head and two more will grow back in its place. The **more** you suppress us, the more we will fight. Have you all learned nothing from history?" She kept her tone bitter and calm, demeaning them to the best of her ability.

"I think you are all talk." One soldier snapped.

"Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not. There is no real telling. All you know is that I am your best shot of knowing what was going on inside Magneto's head, but therein you have also doomed yourself. By stealing my mutation, you foiled any hopes you may have blossomed in your pathetic little minds, because my mutation could have helped. I could have touched anyone and had their mutation and seen inside their mind. Had you had the foresight enough to consider that, well our conversation might be going very differently right now." Rogue spiked a dark eyebrow at them.

"We have your file, Marie. We know of your mutation. We know that Magneto did take special interest in you whenever he wanted to infect all of New York with a mutation. We know that you and the hot head back there attended a mutant school together and were close, but he chose to follow Magneto's footsteps and assured himself a spot on our radar."

Rogue tried to not look alarmed at this information, "Good you did your homework."

"You know, I think I liked the one that wouldn't talk more." One soldier remarked to the other. "She reminds me of Magneto too much."

Rogue's eyes cut over to him, even with her mutation gone she could feel all the personalities swimming around in her mind. Her Logan wanted to snap a hateful comment back to the fool. Her Magneto wanted to remain quiet and act above them. Her Pyro wanted to challenge them and make them eat their words.

"Maybe we should pay the boy a visit, huh?" One laughed to the other.

"Yes, because it worked so well before." She crossed her arms in front of her chest, challenging them.

"You know, your mouth is really starting to work my nerves." The taller soldier took a step towards and glared down at her.

"Funny, I could say the say same thing about you." She retorted.

She felt a sting in her cheek before she felt anything, then the pain traveled across her face and down her neck. He had struck her. Hard.

It took a moment for her mind to stop spinning, there was a metallic taste in her mouth that seemed to get worse each time her cheek throbbed. She didn't turn to face him again. She knew the tears in her eyes and shock on her face would give him too much victory.

"All of you can be broken." He leaned in close to her ear and whispered, "It just takes time and finding the thing that will do _it_."

Rogue's heart hammered in her chest. What would break her? John, Logan, the school, her friends?

The dark curtain of her hair hid the fact her faced suddenly lost all color and panic encompassed her features. She tried desperately to pull someone else's personality, someone calm, someone strong-but none would come. Anger was suddenly coursing through her in hard waves. She felt a tear escape her eye and run a trail down to the tip of her nose. She wouldn't be broken. That would be the only tear they force from her that they get the joy of seeing. This was only the beginning of the battle.

"Since self preservation isn't something you're known for, lets take a different course. Shall we start the discussion about the one they call Wolverine?" One of the soldiers mocked.

 _ **-xx-**_

John sat in a large leather chair, surveying the room around him. It had been a week since Marie had switched places with him. He would have thought they had killed her if he didn't know they were keeping her alive for the sole purpose of getting information out of her. None of the staff seemed to notice the exchange of patients. It was like she never existed here at all.

Even outside of his cell, close tabs were still kept of him. He always saw the workers watching him out of the corner of their eyes. Especially when it came time for medication. At least one soldier would escort him up to the medication window and watch him as he swallowed the pills. Then they would leave him be again.

After he was alone he would spit the medication back out, he'd learned to hide it in different places in his mouth: under his tongue, in the empty space where his wisdom teeth once were. At a later time he would discard the pills in toilet. On the few times when he would have to swallow the medication he would throw it up as soon as he could.

Since the medication was no longer being forced into his system he was beginning to feel better, his bruises and injection sites were beginning to heal and he almost looked normal. Though he actually felt far from it.

He watched everyone shuffle around like zombies. Some of these patients he actually recognized as members of the Brotherhood. Mutants who had fought side-by-side with him, now reduced to this. It made him sick to see them jump into line to get their daily medication, like it was some form of candy.

"Hello John." A voice suddenly broke his thoughts.

He shifted his vision to the woman in front of him, he'd know her anywhere. He'd know her in any life time. Her face is one that would haunt him until the day he died.

The woman who stole his mutation.

He withheld his initial reaction, as hard as it was. He settled for glaring before turning away from her, refusing to acknowledge her conversation.

"John, it doesn't have to be this way." She kept her calm tone. "We can learn from each other."

"I don't want to learn anything from you, unless you can tell him how to get far away from you. Cause that is something I would like to learn." John snapped.

"I wish you wouldn't think about it like that. Being normal isn't the worst thing in the world."

"I can't fathom what could be worse."

Her professional doctor face never faltered. She only leaned closer, a dangerously bold move for someone he detested so much.

"I can assure it could be worse. " Her voice was soft and quiet, "and if you want to make it out of here alive with your friend, I suggest you listen very carefully to what I'm saying. Playing along is going to be the only way to get out of this place. They can make people disappear. I suspect from the reports I have been receiving for medication for your friend, she is putting up quite the resistance."

He scoffed at her advice. Marie was the last person on earth who would put up a fight.

"They haven't began to use brute force on her, but I suspect that if she doesn't start spitting good information out soon, they will stop being so nice."

"Is this supposed to be a threat to me? Cause I assure you, threatening her won't bother me."

"How sad John," she finally reclined back into her own seat, straightening her form, "That girl has defended you and saved you at least twice now. You could at least show some kindness towards her."

John didn't respond. Mostly due to the fact he didn't have a response.

"You shouldn't shove her out. She has risked her life to protect you. Add in the psychological abuse she is enduring. Her resistance is amazing. They even inquired about upping her medication dose because of whatever is going on."

"That's what you're good at isn't? Just shoving that _poison_ into people, doesn't matter if they want it or not." John retorted.

His anger pinched when a small smile lifted the corner of her mouth, "Well, it's apparent you are not ready for any kind of conversation would could have about getting you out of here."

There was a sudden buzzing noise and the dark haired doctor dripped the pager at her hip. After examining it her face did fall, "Looks like I may have been wrong about that time frame, they are paging me for an evaluation of her now."

She stood to leave, which John was grateful for, but she paused.

"I do have one last suggestion for you." John snorted at her words, still she continued in a whispered voice, "you might consider taking your medication and stop making it so obvious you aren't. I have modified your dose. Unless you want injections again, I suggest _**you swallow the pill**_."


End file.
